Lana Del Rey has admitted that she was a heavy drinker by the age of 14.

The 'Born To Die' star, who recently stripped off for the October issue of GQ, told the same magazine that she was sent to boarding school by her parents in the hope that she would get sober.

"I was a big drinker at the time. I would drink every day. I would drink alone. I thought the whole concept was so f**king cool. A great deal of what I wrote on Born To Die is about these wilderness years.

"My parents were worried, I was worried. I knew it was a problem when I liked it more than I liked doing anything else. I was like, 'I'm f**ked. I am totally f**ked'."

The 26-year-old, who last week declared she wanted to start writing for films, went on to add:

"At first it's fine and you think you have a dark side. It's exciting - and then you realise the dark side wins every time if you decide to indulge in it. 

"It's also a completely different way of living when you know that. [You're] a different species of person. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me."